To connect all of this energy use back to oil or fossil fuels I will leave you with a few numbers to think about. On average, an 8 ounce steak contains approximately 450 calories; grain fed beef uses about 35 calories of energy for every 1 calorie of food. This adds up to 15750 calories in the production alone. Now add the transportation, packaging and preparation costs and it starts to add up. The distance the majority of our coffee beans travel from Brazil to get to Vancouver: approximately 11000 km. If the average commuter drives 50 km round trip to get to and from work, this would be equivalent to driving the beans in your car to and from work 220 days before they reached us here (just to give you a relatable measuring device). One U.S. gallon of fuel oil is equivalent to 2.6*10^-8 calories, but consider the energy used to extract, refine and transport the oil, the amount of oil used to transport, grow, process and package our food, and our food begins to look much more (environmentally) expensive.
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